


Children Should Be Seen (Not Heard)

by skullopendra



Category: Hercules (1997), The Little Mermaid (1989)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Deities, Gen, Pre-Canon, Suicide mention
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-08 20:30:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4318998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skullopendra/pseuds/skullopendra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After all, if nepotism were dead, Hades would be the first to know.</p><p>*To be rewritten.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Children Should Be Seen (Not Heard)

Ariel was a mermaid on the cusp of adulthood, and while it was unfortunate that her budding sexuality had found an interest in the many-limbed creatures on land, her behavior was not altogether unexpected.  Collecting trinkets that reminded one of the object of their affections was common -- but it was made hinderingly dangerous for Ariel in particular due to the origin of the things.

And when her father destroyed each lovingly hidden prize in a fit of rage, few would blame her for acting rashly in the emotional maelstrom of leaving that scene behind.

Ariel may have been reckless, and her decision-making skills may still have been developing, but she wasn't a complete fool.

Ursula's slimy eels sidled up to her and attempted to take advantage of her compromised emotional state, and though she knew her father could be uneasonable,  _everyone_ knew Ursula the cecaelia witch was a force to be reckoned with and a back-handed dealer.  Ariel was young and ignorant, but her elder sisters gossiped enough for her to hear a thing or two.  Ariel hadn't quite reached  _that_ level of desperation, so she slipped away and held her emotional tantrum in her room instead.

It would have been really great to make a deal with Ursula, considering how intensely her father seemed to hate the cecaelia, but even despite Ariel's imprudent adventuring habits she did have a measure of self-preservation in her gills.

Though she had turned down the invitation to meet the woman, never let it be said that Ursula had done nothing for Ariel: for she inspired the young mermaid to pay a visit to a distant family member in the darkest trenches of the sea.

* * *

Hades didn't socialize on a good day.

The only people who approached the idea of being on an even keel with the god of the Underworld were the other gods, and they had built up too much resentment against him to be good company for long.  Their children were young and impressionable of course, but also prone to huge cosmic blunders by nature of being protagonists in their own epic tales, and frankly he was disinclined to get himself caught up in all the nonsense _that_ entailed.

He had a pretty good track record so far, if he were to say so himself.

He only really caught up with the other gods every couple centuries or so.  Even his immediate siblings he only spoke with a fraction more frequently than that, just in case they were plotting against him or something -- but ever since Poseidon went and made himself mortal he had kind of been tuning out of that situation.  Sure, he had made a few appearances, and had even had the courtesy to fashion a fish tail in order to blend, but the presence of all those wide-eyed guppies had really unnerved him, so he hadn't been back in a while.

Children!  With a _siren_!  He wasn't really sure what had inspired that decision (Zeus was the sexually incontinent one in the family after all), but far be it from him to attempt to understand the mind of anyone who claimed to do something out of _True Love_.  If the guy really wanted to see his brother, he could just off himself, and Hades would pretty reliably  _still_ be in the Underworld.  It wasn't like he was getting any less in charge of the place.  See, he didn't go off and make himself mortal at the drop of a hat, like  _some_ deities, so one could reasonably expect him to always be where he was  _supposed_ to be: residing over his domain.

It was a terrible, miserable domain, but after untold ages as its caretaker he figured he was pretty damn good at it.

Cronus's nasty departed soul help them all when Poseidon died, and the humans were free to do as they pleased with the ocean.

"Why do I have to tell him?   _You_ tell him!"

"Because  _you're_  the one who said we would!  I didn't agree to _nothin'._ "

Hades restrained the urge to roll his eyes until he remembered he didn't have to.  They lolled about as he turned around with an exasperated sigh.

Creating immortal servants to do his bidding had seemed like a good idea at the time, and basing them on his favorite human emotions had seemed even better.  When they came to embody those emotions to the point of inanity and uselessness, however, he agonized over his short-sightedness in making such eyesores  _immortal_ (he'd already asked the Fates if they could snip their threads, but the one with the eyeball tilted her head down with reproach while another primly reported that there _were no threads)_.  What had he been thinking?  And he certainly couldn't just toss them out.  They lived to serve him, and he couldn't have them spilling the secrets of the Underworld to any mortals or, Cronus forbid, the other Olympian gods.

He could make other servants, he supposed, but his luck so far hadn't been too good.  Better to cut his losses while he was ahead.

" _What_ in the name of Mount Olympus are you two blubbering about this time?" he growled, hair licking his scalp in agitation.  

"W-Well," Panic blurted -- their stuttering was abhorrent, but at least they had learned by now to project their voices despite their unshakeable uncertainty -- "there's um, someone here to see you?"

 _What?"_ Hades stared in incomprehension, and Pain and Panic fidgeted.  Nobody just  _came to visit_  in the Underworld.  You either died, at which point your soul zipped through the doors without preamble, or you were invited.  If Hades actually  _wanted_ someone there, it wasn't difficult to accomplish, but the only other way to reach the Underworld was to  _physically_ go there, which...

"She looked like a mortal!"  Pain said.  "With like, a human torso, but also a snake tail?"

"M-Maybe it was a fish tail?"  Panic suggested to Pain.  "You know, considering she came in through..."

 " _Maybe_ it doesn't matter what kind of tail it is!  S-So Boss, you want us to tell her to get lost?"

So Poseidon's guppies were coming to see him now?  That in itself didn't particularly please him, but the idea of how  _livid_ it would make his middle brother made him grin.  "No," he said, voice dropping into a murmur.  "I'll go see what she wants."

* * *

Hades wondered at first where he might find her, since he didn't feel inclined to turn back for Pain and Panic and have them show him the way.

If her voice hadn't echoed in the cavernous darkness of the Underworld's vestibule, he never would have thought he'd find her in the place he did.

She was  _in the whirlpool_ , but now more than ever it was clear that it wasn't a whirlpool in the traditional sense: the momentum of the souls circling infinitely was what kept the water currents going, and it was their unquenchable thirst for life that made the waters deadly to mortals who touched it.

Now, the waters were nearly still, and the fish-tailed kid sat on an outcropping of rock with her tail trailing into the tide without a care for her safety.  The kid was  _singing to his tortured souls_ , and while in any other circumstances their surcease of suffering would cause him anger, this was strange enough that he put his hot temper on hold.  Every sad sack soul _in the Underworld_ was staring in saggy-faced awe at the girl as she sang a melody so simple and sweet as to temporarily remove them from their place of eternal sorrow.

Maybe a little bit of that godly blood flowed in her veins, despite Poseidon's mortal form.

And while Hades was content to watch mortal souls suffer, the melodious tune that filled the void where agonized screams once existed was... soothing.  The souls were always so ornery, too -- it would be nice to have someone around to shut the poor bastards up every once in a while.

Too bad she wouldn't be staying.

But then, she came of her own volition to the Underworld, and whether or not she understood the implications of her uncle's day job, he had explicitly told the guppies to come to him if they ever needed anything.

She wanted something.

Which meant he could ask for a little something in return.


End file.
